


Learning to love you

by gilleboll



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: Angst, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Dorks in Love, Doubt, F/M, Ficlet, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, One Shot, Oneshot, Oneshot collection, Pining, Self-Doubt, Short, Sleepy Cuddles, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-09-19 19:17:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17007594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gilleboll/pseuds/gilleboll
Summary: When Jake tells Amy how he feels about her before going undercover, she starts to seriously reevaluate her relationship with Teddy.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a series of Peraltiago ficlets/oneshots by the seasons, sort of depicting how their relationship and dynamic grows. One chapter per season of the show. I hope you’ll enjoy!

Peralta was standing in front of her with a box full of his belongings in his arms. He’d caught her just in time, she was just about to head home to Teddy.

”Look— I don’t wanna be a jerk. I know you’re dating Teddy, and it’s going really well. It’s just... I don’t know what’s gonna happen on this assignment, and if something bad goes down, I think I’d be pissed at myself if I didn’t say this: I kinda wish something would happen between us — romantic stylez.”

 

At this point Amy’s heart started beating faster and she felt as if all her blood rushed to her ears. She saw that Jake was still speaking, but she couldn’t tell what he was saying. All she heard was... noise. Jake liked her. Well, she’d guessed that he probably liked her a little since he’d been just _so_ annoying the past few months, but he apparently liked her enough to tell her. The stakes were high. What should she do? What should she say? Snap out of it, Santiago! Apparently Jake was done speaking, because he’d started walking away from her. If she wanted to say something, she had to say it now. She opened her mouth, as if to respond, but the moment — and detective Peralta — had passed her by. Now there was just her and the night air. The noise was starting to dissipate and Amy could hear the radio chatter from a squad car a few feet away. Deep breath. She couldn’t stand outside of the precinct all night. She had to let go of what Jake had just told her. She’d be late for her date night at Teddy’s.

 

Hours later, Amy and Teddy were half-sitting, half-lying on his couch. They’d had a pretty nice date night with dinner and a movie at home, and were now cuddled up, watching the credits of some rom-com that Amy hadn’t really been paying attention to. Instead she had been reflecting on her relationship with the man whose lap she was currently sort of sitting on. Tonight hadn’t been that bad, right? No, of course not! They’d had a great time. She liked Teddy. But she couldn’t deny that she kind of liked Jake as well. Damn it.

”What do you say, Amy, feel like going to bed?”

Teddy’s voice abruptly stopped her train of thought. She looked over at him and gave a quick nod.

”Mhm. I just need the... I have to shower.”

”Of course! Should I wait up?”

He laughed. Had that been a joke? Amy had a hard time telling sometimes. She laughed, feeling sheepish.

”I’ll come to bed when I’m done.”

 

Once the bathroom door was locked behind her, she felt absolutely overwhelmed. The noise, a distant murmur filled her ears once again. What the hell should she do? Teddy was great; fantastic even. Even if she _did_ want to leave Teddy for Jake, he was going undercover for who knows how long. Which was probably for the better. Amy didn’t know if she could stand seeing Jake, knowing what he’d said to her. Then again, she didn’t know if she could stand never seeing him again, especially knowing what he’d said to her. Oh God, what if she never saw him again? No, she couldn’t think like that. Not only because she most probably would be seeing Jake again, but because she felt horrible for thinking so much about Jake when she was in a happy relationship with another man. Said man had apparently had enough of waiting up for her — he was knocking on the door.

”I’m going to bed. Are you alright?”

”Mhm. Yeah. Good night.”

 

If she was happy, why did it take such an effort to sound that way? It’s probably just temporary. Because of stress. Yeah. She’d just been a little stressed lately. Because of work. Nothing else.

 

Because she was happy with Teddy.

_Wasn’t she?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay maybe this got a little sad, i’m sorry about that !! i can’t promise i’ll stay away from angst in the future, but at least i’ll counter that with the cutesy stuff as well lmaoo
> 
> i hope you enjoyed this though  
> kudos/comments are greatly appreciated !


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Jake is injured in AC, he has to find a way to beat his boredom. Medical leave sucks.

Not working straight-up sucked. Bored out of his mind, Jake cycled through the channels on his TV for the third time in an hour. Mid-day television was the worst. No, strike that. Being home alone, injured and restless was the worst. Mid-day TV wasn’t far off though. With a sigh of resignation he set down the remote on the couch cushion next to him and resumed watching the Dr. Phil marathon that had been running for a few hours at this point. What to do, what to do. Before long, Jake had his phone in his hand and he was scrolling through various social media apps. Not that his Instagram feed was all that interesting right now; it mainly consisted of Terry’s pictures of Cagney and Lacey, Gina’s OOTDs posted several times a day, and surprisingly aesthetically pleasing pictures of Amy’s desk. There was also the occasional food picture posted by Boyle, but he was just helplessly bad at using social media — he was more of an e-mail blast kind of guy.

 

Once Jake had gone through his feeds and nothing new was showing up he found himself incredibly bored again. He felt desperate for contact with his friends. But they’re all at work, too busy to talk to him. At least the detectives. Maybe Gina would reply if he texted her. It wouldn’t hurt to try.

” _Ginaaaaaaa_ ”

” _whats up_ ”

” _I’m literally dying_

_So bored_

_Helpppp_ ”

” _sorry jake idk if i can help u_

 _theres a reason im on my phone all day instead of work_ ”

Yeah, that checked out. Okay, so Gina was no good for any sort of company or even entertainment right now. Who else could he text? Rosa never said anything very fun, neither did Holt. The sarge wouldn’t respond, and Charles responded too much. Jake didn’t even know if Hitchcock and Scully could text. Amy was infamously bad at replying to texts while she was at work. Besides, Jake was trying to not text Amy unless there was an emergency. If he did, he ran the risk of saying too much or maybe ever driving her off. He really liked her. Really liked her, and honestly, it kind of sucked. Because he really liked Amy, he found himself constantly worrying about what he said or did around her. Was he funny, or just annoying? Not only that, it also sucked that he couldn’t really do anything about it. He couldn’t exactly just make a move on her and expect things to go well. No, he was stuck in this weird, sucky situation of having romantic feelings for his coworker slash deskmate.

 

Suddenly, he got a text, and not from Gina. It was from Amy, of all people.

” _Hey, Jake. The squad is having a get-together at Shaw’s tonight at 8. Feel free to join us if you want._ ”

Score! Social interaction. This was exactly what Jake needed.

” _I’ll be there_

 _Thanks for the invite :)))_ ”

He was weirdly excited for a regular night at the bar.

 

Once he stepped into the bar it didn’t take long for him to find where the squad had taken up residence. Technically it wasn’t the whole squad; Captain Holt, Terry, Hitchcock, and Scully weren’t there, so it was really just Charles, Amy, Rosa and Gina. They’d occupied a booth by the pool table close to one of the corners and seemed to be deep in conversation. Jake bought himself a beer before joining his coworkers.

”Hey guys.”

He groaned lightly as he slid into the booth next to Charles and across from Rosa. His joints still hurt although he was mostly recovered from his string of accidents trying to take down a perp by the name of Olsen. Everyone acknowleged his presence before returning to their previous conversation, which seemed to be about the New York Fire Department. It had been a while since Jake had butted heads with the Fire Department, but he guessed someone on the squad had had to deal with them recently. Turned out Rosa had been assigned an arson case where the firemen had been particularly annoying.

 

”Those guys really can’t get enough of themselves huh?”

”Especially Boone though. God, he’s the worst!”

”Okay I don’t wanna be that guy Rosa, but you say that about a lot of people.”

”I mean it this time.”

Jake chuckled as he got up from his seat.

”I’ll be right back.”

The others didn’t pay him much mind as he made is way off to the bathroom. He didn’t mind that he wasn’t at the center of attention, he was just glad to be socializing again.

Once he was done and making his way back to his friend’s booth, he nearly bumped in to Amy who had her arms full of drinks. She must’ve gotten another round for everyone. Before Jake could stop himself, he’d spoken.

”Hey, Amy, I think we need to- hey! Watch it!”

Someone by the bar had bumped into Amy from behind, causing her to almost drop the bottles she was holding. Jake had instictively grabbed onto her arms to steady her.

”Thanks Jake. Do you mind taking some of these back to the table? I’m going to drop something if I do it myself.”

She handed him a couple of the beers with a light smile. When Jake took them, their fingers brushed together for just a moment and his stomach made a flip. He really was head over heels for her. Come on Peralta. You’ve said it before, you can say it again. Just tell her!

”Anyway. What were you saying?”

He smiled at her instead of answering her question. He’d chickened out again.

”Nevermind. It’s not important. Let’s get back to the others.”

 

He doubted he could keep going like this. He was too into her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! i know the last one was very short compared to this one, i’m going to try to keep things more even length-wise. i still hope you’re enjoying this though  
> kudos/comments are still greatly appreciated if you liked this!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before Jake has to go into witsec, he and Amy try to make the most of the time they have together.

Not even a week had passed since Jake had gotten a very threatening call from none other than Jimmy ”the Butcher” Figgis and Amy had felt like her entire life had crumbled in front of her. Both her boyfriend and her captain-slash-mentor, threatened to be killed right when they’d thought they had won. How do you react to that other than feeling like your whole life is ruined? Jake had tried to convince her that everything was going to be okay, that he and Holt would be placed in witness protection somewhere safe and that they’d come back as soon as Figgis was caught and everything would be normal again. But honestly, his reassurements weren’t much help now that it was Jake’s last day before he had to leave to God knows where for God knows how long.

 

”Ames, everything’s going to be all right. Promise.”

Amy looked up at him as he exited the kitchen, her eyebrows drawn together.

”You can’t promise that.”

The hint of a smirk was playing on Jake’s lips, and suddenly, Amy’s anxiety and sadness was replaced with anger.

”Don’t laugh. You can’t laugh at this.”

Jake’s smile faded.

”You’re right, I can’t promise that. I’m sorry.”

He sat down on the couch next to Amy.

”But let’s face it babe, me and Holt are going to be way safer in witsec than we’re going to be at home. Odds are, we’ll be just fine.”

”I guess you’re right... That doesn’t make this suck less though.”

She sighed heavily and leaned into Jake. The warmth radiating from him made her feel less tense, despite everything.

”Yeah, it’s gonna suck. Real bad.”

Jake sighed as well. His arm snaked around Amy’s waist and pulled her closer to him. Amy could feel how he breathed in the scent of her hair. She loved him so much.

”You know,”

Jake turned so that he could look at Amy. Once again there was a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

”We’re gonna get through this. I love you so much Amy. I know you and the squad are gonna make sure Figgis is put away and then Holt and I can come home. And when I’m back, we can move in together. Okay?”

Amy could feel her lips curling upwards as well.

”Okay.”

Jake drew her in for a kiss. Before their lips met, he stopped for a second to say something.

”There is something we should do before I leave though.”

His voice was just a low murmur. Amy felt her heart rate go up. It was a little ridiculous to her how little he had to do to make her heart race. She leaned in to close the little space that separated them.

”Mhm, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

”I think so.”

She kissed him. First, softly, but then she started kissing him more and more urgently. For the moment, her worries for the future were fading away.

 

When she woke up next to Jake the next morning though, her feeling of dread was back tenfold. Today was going to be her last day with him for an undetermined amount of time, and it wasn’t even a full day — Jake and Captain Holt were to leave at 2 P.M.Amy looked at the clock on Jake’s living room wall. Provided it wasn’t broken, it was currently around 8:30. Should she wake Jake up? Should she let him sleep in? Her desire to spend as many waking hours with him as possible was at war with her desire to let him do what he wanted for his last day at home for a while. After some deliberating with herself, she decided that a compromise would be the way to go. She shook her boyfriend gently to wake him up. He groaned sleepily and squinted at her.

”What time is it?”

”8:30-ish.”

”Can I go back to sleep?”

Amy sighed.

”Jake, please. I want to spend time with you before you leave.”

Instead of getting up, like she’d expected, he grabbed her arm and pulled her as close as he could.

”Mmm... only if we stay in bed until lunchtime.”

He was ridiculous, but Amy did promise herself to let him have his way today; and besides, she did genuinely enjoy cuddling up next to Jake. She nuzzled into the crook of his neck.

”I’m going to miss this. I’m going to miss you.”

She felt a lump growing in her throat as she said it, and the ”you” came out as more of a croak than a word. The blankets rustled as Jake reached to run his hand through her hair.

”I’m gonna miss you too. I actually kind of miss you in advance right now.”

”Jake, I don’t know if that’s possible.”

”Oh it is. How else am I feeling that right now?”

Amy chuckled into Jake’s shoulder.

”Sure. Maybe I miss you in advance too.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake and Amy talk about prison.

Cool. Cool, cool, cool.

Jake was probably going to prison. Every day since the trial started could be his last in his and Amy’s apartment for a very long time. Very cool. He wasn’t freaking out at all. Except he was freaking out — just a little. But it was fine, right? He couldn’t _actually_ be at risk of facing prison?

”Jake, we should probably talk about what happens if you get convicted.” Amy’s voice pulled Jake back into reality and he sort of wish it hadn’t. He didn’t want to talk about that; talking about it made it real. No, he’d rather keep living in denial.

”I’m not going to prison, Ames. The defense is pretty much airtight,” he responded, doing his very best to sound effortlessly cool — like normal. He thought he did a pretty good job. Amy didn’t look as convinced though.

”Yeah, the defense is good, but we’ve seen supposedly airtight cases fall apart in court before. We need to discuss this,” she said, and her eyebrows were drawn together into that frown she did when something made her feel anxious. Jake never enjoyed seeing her feeling bad, but especially not now, when he couldn’t really help her. He could feel his eyebrows doing something similar while he was deliberating on whether or not he could go through talking about prison. In the end, he decided he’d try. For Amy’s sake. He took a deep breath. Sighed.

 

”Yeah. You’re right; we need to talk about it. But I really don’t want to.”

”I don’t want to either, but if we don’t and things go wrong, we...” She trailed off, but Jake didn’t need her to finish the sentence to understand. If things went sideways in court and they hadn’t talked yet, they’d regret it.

”Yeah. So where do we even start?” he asked, taking his girlfriend’s hand.

”I guess we-” Amy’s voice broke, so she took a couple of breaths before starting over. ”We should talk about what- no. I can’t do this right now. Why is it always you who has to leave?” she asked, and the sadness in her voice broke Jakes heart. For real, he could swear he felt it actually break, even though he knew that wasn’t a thing. He pulled her close and planted a kiss on her head as he wrapped his arms around her.

”It’s because my life is _literally_ an action movie babe,” he said and squeezed her a little in his arms before letting go. Her eyes found his and he smiled soflty.

”You know I’m scared too right? But there’s a real chance that I won’t have to go, and if I do then... Then I know it’s going to work out. Thanks to you.”

Woah, that got a little too real. But Amy seemed to appreciate it, because she managed a small smile.

”Now,” Jake said. ”How about some pizza?”

 

Even if this could be Jake’s last day at home he was going to make it feel as normal as possible. For both their sakes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it’s almost time for the season 6 premiere!! this hiatus was rough   
> i’ll try to have chapter 5 up before the 10th but i’m not making any promises
> 
> i hope you enjoyed! kudos/comments are appreciated !!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jake has a surprise for Amy to celebrate her becoming a sergeant.

Amy was the happiest she had been in... what felt like a very long time. There had been a lot of stress in her life what with Jake going to prison, Seamus Murphy nearly killing her captain and her fiancé, and a less than relaxed cross-country roadtrip with the squad. But now things felt good. She was going to be a sergeant, she had just finished a case with her idol Melvin Stermley, and she was going to get married to the love of her life. Things were good. Even the transfer paperwork was good. Mind you, the paperwork was never much of an issue, it was more about transfering away from her detective squad; but since she was only moving down a floor, she was more than pleased to stay late at the precinct to do the last of the paperwork for the move. Well. Honestly, she’d rather be at home with Jake, having dinner and watching thursday-night TV, but he had made it very clear that he needed her to stay at work until he gave her the all-clear.

”Santiago, why haven’t you gone home yet?” captain Holt asked when he saw that she was still sat at her desk.

”Oh, uh, Jake asked me to stay here for a while. He’s planning something,” Amy replied, looking up from her documents at her CO.

”I see. Well, I hope that you two have a nice evening. See you tomorrow, detective,” Holt said and walked through the bullpen to get in the elevator.

”Good night.”

 

Fifteen minutes later, Amy’s paperwork was all done and she had yet to recieve word from Jake. She had been watching the night shift squad doing their thing for a few minutes, but it had quickly gotten boring. There wasn’t much going on in the nine-nine tonight. She was just about to figuratively die of boredom when Jake finally texted her.

” _Ok babe I’m alllll done_

 _Please come home now_ ”

Amy smiled at the texts. He really didn’t text like a man over 35.

” _I’m heading to the car now. See you in 15 minutes!_ ”

She spent the drive home wondering what Jake had planned for the night. Over the years she had learned to avoid any type of expectation for his surprises; they were either amazing or disasterous. Despite her previous experiences though, she couldn’t help feeling a little antsy ...or maybe nervous about what Jake had been doing. Sometimes he took on more than he could handle.

 

When she opened the door to her apartment the first thing that struck her was an unusually delicious smell.

”Welcome home, the light of my life!” Jake called from inside the apartment.

”What’s that smell?” Amy asked whilst taking off her shoes.

”That,” her partner responded, peeking out into the entryway. ”Is the smell of our amazing dinner.”

Amy shot him a look that she hoped told him to please elaborate on their ”amazing dinner”. Thankfully, after their several years of being together, Jake seemed to have learned which Amy-look meant what.

”We’re having pasta and a sauce I really can’t pronounce.”

Amy raised a skeptical eyebrow. If Jake had done the cooking, maybe dinner wouldn’t be as amazing as he had made it out to be.

”Don’t worry! I had Charles help me not burn it,” he said in an effort to calm her. Amy was still skeptical, but she decided to give her fiancé the benefit of the doubt. Jake beckoned her into the apartment and... wow. Not only had he cleaned the apartment, but he had made a real effort to make the place look romantic. He had managed to dig out a couple strings of fairy lights that he had hung over the doorways. There were candles on pretty much every horizontal surface. Where had he gotten all of them? Not that it mattered. All that mattered was the fact that Jake had done all of this for her. For them. Without being able to stop it, her eyes were stinging with tears.

”Jake,” she said with a smile, her voice sounded weak. ”You really didn’t have to-”

”But I wanted to. Things are going so well and I love you so much, I thought we should celebrate,” he said, a sweet smile adorning his face. He gave her a quick kiss before moving back into the kitchen.

”Now let’s eat my amazing, flawless dinner. Then, we’ll watch any movie you want, or we’ll look over the wedding plans again or whatever you want to do. You’re the boss tonight.”

 

While not flawless, Jake’s dinner exceeded most, if not all of Amy’s expectations. So did the rest of the night. They spent most of their night snuggled up on the couch watching Harry Potter, and whenever they got bored they started coming up with commentary for the movie. Once the credits were rolling for the first movie, Jake asked if they should continue with the second one.

”Nah... We still have work tomorrow. Plus, I’m enjoying ...just this,” she murmured, shifting even closer to him. He made a content sound in response and rested his head on top of hers. He let out a great yawn, but that did not stop him from speaking.

”We really should... do this more often. ...When we’re married.”

Amy nodded in agreement. They really should.

”Yeah. Thanks for tonight, future husband. I love you.”

”You’re welcome, future wife. I love you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> happy season 6 premiere day!! i really had to hurry to get this up on time, so i’m sorry if it’s not super good, but i don’t hate it so i’ll let it slide. i hope you enjoyed!


End file.
